


Blocking on AO3

by ao3commentoftheday



Series: How to AO3 [7]
Category: No Fandom
Genre: Fanwork Research & Reference Guides, ao3 savior, blocking, how to ao3, tutorial
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-28
Updated: 2020-12-28
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:08:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28379010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ao3commentoftheday/pseuds/ao3commentoftheday
Summary: Have you ever wanted to block an author, a tag, a key word, or a fic title from showing up in your AO3 results? The AO3 Savior browser extension might just be what you're looking for.This work is a tutorial for how to install and use AO3 Savior. It works across browsers on desktop, but only Firefox allows extensions on mobile.
Series: How to AO3 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1854832
Comments: 1
Kudos: 22





	Blocking on AO3

**Step One:** Install the [Tampermonkey extension](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tampermonkey/dhdgffkkebhmkfjojejmpbldmpobfkfo) on your browser (link is for the Chrome extension, so if you use a different browser, just search for it). This will allow you to install the AO3 Savior userscript. 

**Step Two:** [Install AO3 Savior](https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/3579-ao3-savior). Click on the link and hit the Install this Script button (image below)

  


This will open the userscript in Tampermonkey. Click the install button there too (screenshot below)

  


**Step Three:** Install [AO3 Savior config](https://greasyfork.org/en/scripts/28782-ao3-savior-config) the same way. It’s a separate file because if you update the code, it resets all of your blocks so you need to input them again. By having the config separate from the rest of the code, the other code can update while leaving your block settings in tact. 

**Step Four:** restart your browser (may be optional, depending on your browser)

 **Step Five:** Click on the puzzle piece at the top right corner of your browser. Click on Tampermonkey and then into your Dashboard. From there, find ao3 savior config in your list of installed scripts and click on the edit button (screenshot below)

  


**Step Six:** edit the code to block the things you want to block. This might sound intimidating, but it’s okay! 

In this config file, scroll down and read through the text. The first settings are turning options on or off. Use “true” to have that feature or “false” to turn that feature off. For example:

// Set to false if you don't want to see why works were hidden.  
showReasons: true,

When the code starts with // that means that it’s a comment or instructions to you. Read that line and then make the change on the line below it. In this case, change the word “true” to “false” if you don’t want to see the reason why the work was hidden from you.

To block on author, edit this part:

// Exclude works with an author that exactly matches at least one term.  
authorBlacklist: ['Hated Author 1', 'smeyer'],

Find the author’s name on AO3 and copy it so that you get the spelling right. Then paste it in here. To make sure your syntax is right, make sure that the author name is inside the square brackets [ ] and also inside apostrophes ‘. Separate each author name with a comma , like you see in the example provided. 

You can do the same thing with tags by copy/pasting the full tag and putting it inside apostrophes in the tag blacklist section. Same thing for specific fic titles or for words that appear in summaries.

 **Step Seven:** After you have made all of your changes, go up to File and remember to Save. 

**Step Eight:** You can now close that tab and head on over to AO3 where the only sign of those fics/authors/tags etc you blocked will be a little box telling you a fic has been hidden, and why. If you don’t want to see those boxes, change those settings to false in step 6. 

In future, if you ever want to block a tag, author, or work from your AO3 experience, just go back into your config file and edit them in there. 

**Note:** in order to get this on mobile, use Firefox. Other browsers do not allow userscripts on mobile


End file.
